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'I Wasn't Happy': Trump Reveals He Pushed Mattis to Resign From the Pentagon

© AP Photo / Andrew HarnikPresident Donald Trump shares a laugh with Defense Secretary Jim Mattis (File)
President Donald Trump shares a laugh with Defense Secretary Jim Mattis (File) - Sputnik International
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Jim Mattis, a former US secretary of defence, announced his resignation in December, citing foreign policy disagreements with the president. He was replaced by then-Deputy Secretary of Defence Patrick Shanahan on January 1, who, as of early February, serves as acting secretary.

President Trump has revealed he effectively pushed General Mattis to resign from his post as secretary of defence in late 2018.

"I didn't like the job he was doing. I wasn't happy with it. I wasn't happy with the – I got him more money than the military has ever seen before. And I wasn't happy with the job that he was doing at all. And I said 'it's time.'," Trump said, speaking to the New York Times.

Gen. James Mattis, the head of U.S. Central Command, takes questions after delivering a lecture to the London think tank Policy Exchange in London, Tuesday, Feb. 1, 2011. - Sputnik International
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"That's why in the letter he wrote, 'You have to have your own choice.' The reason he said that was because I said, 'You're just not my choice'," Trump added.

According to Trump, acting Secretary Shanahan, who was appointed to replace Mattis last month, is "doing a terrific job."

Mattis announced plans to step down as secretary of defence in late December, immediately after President Trump announced that he would be withdrawing the contingent of 2,000 US troops from Syria. Mattis initially planned to step down in late February, but was forced by Trump to leave by January 1.

U.S. President Donald Trump speaks to reporters at a meeting with manufacturers and manufacturing workers in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, U.S., January 31, 2019 - Sputnik International
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Mattis was one of several senior officials who resigned following Trump's announcement on Syria, and was joined by special anti-Daesh* coalition envoy Brett McGurk, DoD spokeswoman Dana White, and Pentagon Chief of Staff Kevin Sweeney, all of whom quit between late December and early January.

In his resignation letter, Mattis said he made his decision because President Trump had "the right to have a secretary of state whose views are better aligned" with his own on issues including commitment to US alliances and the war against Daesh (ISIS).

*A terrorist group outlawed in Russia and many other countries.

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